Harry Allen

Born in New Jersey in 1964, Harry Allen received an undergraduate degree from Alfred University before moving to New York City and earning a Masters in Industrial Design from the Pratt Institute. His first job was in the retail design department of Prescriptives Cosmetics. In 1993 he established his design consultancy, Harry Allen Design, and the same year designed and produced a line of furniture called Living Systems, which he showed at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Today his furniture is in production with a variety of clients including Habitat, Dune, Magis, and Umbra. He has just launched a new line of modular seating for Dune called Pipeline.

His experience at Prescriptives lead to more interior design work. His first major solo project, the Moss store in New York's SoHo district, received international praise. Since then, he has designed a number of successful interiors including offices, restaurants, and residences. His largest project is a chain of retail stores called Hushush in Japan, and most recently he completed the interior of the DuPont Corian Design Studio in Philadelphia.

Harry's unique vision also extends to product design, with clients including Wireworks, Magis, Steuben, Umbra, and Gaia & Gino. His life-cast REALITY product line for Areaware has proven to be a great success in the marketplace and his First Aid Kit for Johnson & Johnson has received wide attention in the press.

Over the years, Harry has produced a multitude of innovative lighting. His Ceramic Foam Lamps were featured in the Museum of Modern Art's 1994 show "Mutant Material in Contemporary Design" and have since been added to the Museum's permanent design collection. In addition to much experimental studio work, Allen has designed production lighting fixtures for George Kovacs, Sputnik, and IKEA.

Due to his versatile nature, Harry Allen is often asked to span multiple design disciplines and develop advance concept work for clients. These projects, like Allen's involvement in the repositioning of La Mer cosmetics, his advance concept work for MAC cosmetics, and his "souvenir plate" project for the Morgans Hotel Group, require acute brand sensitivity. However, his first total corporate re-branding project was completed in 2008 for the professional airbrush cosmetics company Temptu.

From the beginning, Harry Allen's work has been recognized with honors and awards. His achievements include the Brooklyn Museum of Art's Modernism/Young Designer Award, two Industrial Design Society of America IDEA Awards, and he has been featured in ID Magazine's Annual Design Review four times. For a complete listing of awards and press please visit our website at www.harryallendesign.com.

Harry Allen does not underestimate his audience. His systematic design process, long-standing interest in art and new materials, and desire to innovate have lead to some of the most intelligent products and interiors in the world today.

Please make sure to include the first and last names of you and any guests by June 8th at 3pm. Guests with unlisted names and those who RSVP after this time may check-in at the Knoll security desk the night of the Meetup. Thanks for your patience!